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Publisher will produce first eco-friendly Bible

Posted at 1:42 PM on 09 Oct 2007

Coming soon to a hotel room near you: the first green Bible, expected to hit the scene later this month from publisher Thomas Nelson. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible -- which perhaps includes the 11th commandment "Thou shalt be principled"? -- will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and contain recycled fiber. Says Tyson Miller of the Green Press Initiative, which is working with Thomas Nelson to green the Holy Book: "The Bible is the most widely circulated book on the planet and Thomas Nelson's leadership and use of environmentally responsible paper is a living legacy to the Bible's message of stewardship." Amen.

source: The Book Standard
see also, in Grist: A special series on God and the environment

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Comments: (4 comments)

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reduce, reuse, recycle

Perhaps they could consider producing a few less of them. Or a few million less. Remember that the the 3 Rs should go in that order.

Eco-Eating: Eating as if the Earth Matters at www.brook.com/veg

by CyberBrook at 3:44 PM on 10 Oct 2007

No such thing...

There is no such thing as an eco-friendly bible unless you change the violent, tribal, stone-age messages inside. We already number as the stars so I don't think "go forth and be fruitful" should be included in the eco-friendly version. Also, as livestock are currently the largest contributor to global warming (and their share is projected to increase dramatically as other countries develop and their meat-eating increases), the eco-friendly version would have Jesus and all the followers be vegans. Jesus should also tell people to use birth control. He should also add "blessed are the literate" to his long list of good people since it's widely established at this point that the higher percentage of literate people in one's country, the lower the birth rate. We could also add in a few parables where Jesus educates consumers and tells them that they shouldn't be consuming products that are inherently bad for the environment, like eating CAFO meat, driving cars, urban sprawl, etc. Maybe we could have a corporate CEO from Monsanto fall at his feet and Jesus say "go and sin no more!" Wouldn't that be cool if, instead of underpriveleged people who have been forced into hard lives of prostitution, exploitation, and petty crime, that Jesus would minister that the worst sinners are actually Fast Food vendors, arms manufacturers, agribusiness CEOs, and oil companies?

If the publishers really want an eco-friendly bible, send them my way and I'll help them to rewrite it.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

by John former Marine at 5:38 AM on 06 Dec 2007

"Blessed are the literate

for they will be asked to rewrite God's book," maybe?

The Bible is indeed a collection of documents containing a great deal of ugliness. Not only is its application of unjust punishments hideously excessive, but also the key concepts in Torah of "blessing" and "curse" refer in large part to the relative happiness of a people as measured in how well their agricultural exploitation of their land has paid off.

In fact, John FM, though I agree with most of what you have written, I would just point out that had the messages of the Bible been truly from the Stone Age, they might have been more environmentally friendly. But biblical literature was written down during the Iron Age, much of it based on memories of Bronze Age experiences -- the age of agriculture and urbanization. Yahweh himself does not mind being a protector of a people who include both wandering herdsmen and planters. He does not seem quite so personally involved in getting the fruits of the earth to grow, as are some of his rivals in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Canaan; but he enjoys being the recipient of a cult that is focused on animal sacrifices and offerings of grain and first fruits.

Unfortunately, the contents and the collection of the documents in the Bible are historical facts at this point, so re-writing will not work, unless Yahweh is willing to send us back in time. What those of us who are "literate" should not cease doing, however, is to point out that the Bible is in constant need of intelligent, thoughtful interpretation, and that the various fundamentalist types who have appropriated the Bible as their charter of rights to be obnoxious and make trouble seriously misunderstand it, and are in sorry possession of a theology that is puny, pusillanimous, and unworthy of human beings.

The most important lesson is: The God of the biblical traditions is not at all the same as the character called "God" and "Yahweh" in the Bible. And that is not at all paradoxical, in spite of how it may sound.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 10:55 AM on 06 Dec 2007

I'm going with Stone Age...

Sure...Bronze...Iron...Copper...

But I'm not talking about the Assyrians or the Egyptians here. I'm talking about the Hebrews. Their neighbors may have been in the Iron Age...but, if you use the bible as its own evidence (which is what the religion is based on), David took out a formidable opponent with a giant sword, armor, etc...using a stone.

Ok...maybe I'm stretching things a bit. It's like saying everyone here is in the Information age...some of us are, some of us aren't. Greek hoplites carried shields and armor. But the light infantry behind them weren't. As far as I know, the Hebrews were kind of the light infantry being chased down by the Assyrian chariots.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

by John former Marine at 5:47 AM on 07 Dec 2007

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